1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and an operating device, a signal converter, and a signal processing system using the semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device which can perform parallel arithmetic operations, and an operating device which can perform, e.g., a correlation arithmetic operation, a signal converter for A-D (analog-to-digital) or D-A (digital-to-analog) converting a signal, and a signal processing system using the semiconductor device.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, upon improvement in signal processing, it has become important to realize low-cost operating devices which can process a very large volume of data at high speed within a short period of time. In particular, techniques for a correlation operating device which can be used in motion detection of dynamic images, a high-precision analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a spread spectrum (SS) communication, and the like require signal processing on the order of GHz. Conventionally, when such a function is realized by a semiconductor integrated circuit, parallel arithmetic operations are attained using a plurality of semiconductor chips so as to attain high-speed processing, or circuits are integrated on a considerably large chip using the latest micro-layout rule.
As is well known, the circuit scale of a chip immediately increases when the number of bits of a signal to be processed increases. For example, the circuit scale increases in proportion to the square of the number of bits to be operated. Therefore, as the number of bits increases, the cost increases, or the circuit scale increases up to an impractical level in many cases.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can realize new signal processing that can solve the conventional problems described above. It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can realize a high-speed arithmetic operation using a smaller scale circuit than a conventional device if the number of bits remains the same. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can prevent an increase in circuit scale even when the number of bits to be operated increases. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can perform an arithmetic operation with a higher precision than a conventional device using the same working technique as the conventional device. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which can realize a signal processing function, that cannot be realized by a conventional device or requires very high cost, at a practical low price.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an operating device, a signal converter, and a signal processing system using the semiconductor device.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device which comprises a plurality of input terminals, a plurality of capacitor electrically connected to the input terminals, and a sense amplifier to which the remaining terminals of the capacitor are commonly and electrically connected, and in which the capacitor and the sense amplifier are formed by utilizing a semiconductor layer on an insulating surface, and to provide an operating device, a signal converter, and a signal processing system using the device.